


I am nothing but a shadow in the night

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: As It All Burns [13]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, GFY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 01:05:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13283664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: She had thought first of danger, and not at all of someone having summoned Master Jinn from his bed - potential danger, still, but less so if he had not taken the time to wake them first. She hopes.--"Not on Serenno." Mace shakes his head, cutting off Valorum before he can complete any offer on Dooku's behalf.Darra stiffens slightly, though she knows they will see Dooku in a more suspicious light than she does.





	I am nothing but a shadow in the night

Sabé startles awake, blinking in the darkness of the room as she listens for the sound that disturbed her sleep. The outer door closes with a soft thud, and she slips out of the shared bed, reaching under the robe draped over a chair to retrieve her blaster. Keeping close without others to keep watch over her best beloved, but unable to relax again until she knows what is happening.

Minutes tick by as she stands in the darkness, listening for any sign of danger, while behind her, she can hear Padmé's breathing quickening, rising from sleep without Sabé to soothe her out of a nightmare.

"Sabé?"

"The outer door. I haven't heard anyone moving around since it shut." It doesn't mean there is no one there, only that if they are, they move very quietly.

Behind her, the bedframe creaks and there's a quiet scrape of wood on wood. Padmé retrieving her own blaster from the drawer of her bedside table, though her aim had still been off when she'd insisted on practicing yesterday. Her vision will return, but Sabé hopes if there is danger, Padmé will not need to fire a shot.

"We should check on Ceseri'sado." Padmé presses up against Sabé's side, where she will not interfere with Sabé's ability to fire. "If Master Jinn has left, she shouldn't wake alone."

Sabé lets her lips twist in a brief smile, reaching down to twine the fingers of her free hand through Padmé's. She had thought first of danger, and not at all of someone having summoned Master Jinn from his bed - potential danger, still, but less so if he had not taken the time to wake them first. She hopes.

The outer room is bare when she nudges open the door, moonlight shining in from the open arch to the balcony. Chirping insects break the silence of the night, promising there is at least some peace, even if Sabé cannot bring herself to trust it entirely.

Nothing moves as she slips out, keeping between Padmé and the rest of the room, and blaster aimed for the floor until she's confident there's no one hiding in the shadows. There's a lamp near one of the couches, and she draws Padmé with her to settle on one, untangling her hand long enough to switch the lamp on.

Padmé leans against her when she sits down, and Sabé wraps her arm around Padmé's shoulders. Listening as Padmé breathes out a quiet, shaky laugh, pressing her face against Sabé's neck.

"Have we been that long jumping at shadows, Sabé, that we cannot trust even our ally to keep danger from our rooms?"

Tightening her grip, Sabé presses a kiss against Padmé's hair. "Since we scattered from Coruscant." She hadn't slept well once the Empire had risen, staying at its heart to be Amidala, and later to lend aid to the fleeing Jedi. Let her sleep be fitful and broken if it kept others safe, as her best beloved had commanded her. "Not since we chose our people over the Senate and Chancellor."

Another quiet laugh escapes Padmé, that catches on a sob at the end of it. "All our people." There is steel under the tiredness, and Sabé bares her teeth in something more a grimace than a smile. "Naboo, Serenno, Tatooine, the Jedi." Padmé lifts her head, wiping one hand across her eyes while Sabé pretends not to notice the tears.

* * *

"Another Temple, we will not build." Master Yoda looks older than Darra remembers from the creche, leaning heavily on his cane when he had arrived with Master Windu to continue their meeting with Valorum. "Too easy to find, a central place is. Easy to wipe out younglings and Council in one blow, it is, if in the same place all are."

It had seemed to Darra that it had not mattered that the Jedi were scattered across the galaxy, when their executioners were all around them, trusted and respected, but she does not voice that thought. It is bad enough she still remembers with almost too-vivid clarity the day her Master had been slaughtered in front of her. Only one compromised clone between Darra and her own death.

"There are several planets in the Confederacy who are willing to host Jedi, if you want to build smaller facilities in several places." Valorum's voice is a familiar anchor, and at his words, Darra nudges a piece of flimsi to the front of his desk, the list inked in with her own neat hand. "The primary governmental buildings for the Confederacy are here on Raxus, so if you wanted a place for the High Council here, it wouldn't be out of place. And Count Dooku..."

"Not on Serenno." Mace shakes his head, cutting off Valorum before he can complete any offer on Dooku's behalf.

Darra stiffens slightly, though she knows they will see Dooku in a more suspicious light than she does. He had sheltered her in those first horrible months nearly two years ago, and reassured her that she need not feel guilty for not returning to the Jedi after what she had seen. That finding another means of aiding people was not a failing, even if she turned her back on using the Force entirely.

"Count Dooku has already constructed buildings for the use of the Order." Valorum watches Yoda and Mace steadily. "He is currently sheltering several dozen younglings there, and has informed me that the last shuttle of younglings, along with his former apprentice, arrived safely only a standard week ago."

"Count Dooku was the only person who offered shelter to the first Jedi fleeing Order 66." Darra is not sure how she found the courage to speak, or how she manages not to flinch at the attention now directed at her by Mace and Yoda. "No Republic world, no Separatist world, would give shelter to those who did not want to return home. And he will take all who flee from the Empire. Or you would not be here, Masters."

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Part II, by Paramore.


End file.
